Wednesday August 18, 2004
Wednesday August 18, 2004 Wisdom of Crowds and Open Source?
We pulled into the parking lot and switched gears, preparing for the work of the day. But the ideas stayed with me. A few weeks later, at Powell's, a book jumped out at me: The Wisdom of Crowds - Why the Many Are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations <> by James Surowiecki, who writes "The Financial Page" business column for the New Yorker.
Yep, it was the same book that triggered the carpool chat. So I bought it - and am thoroughly enjoying it. In addition to a provocative thesis, it's peppered with captivating examples of collective wisdom, including the Iowa Electronic Markets (which has had some success predicting election results, moreso than the old standby of opinion polls), the Hollywood Stock Exchange's forecasts of opening weekend box office and the effectiveness of "asking the audience" in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. There's even a description of the honeybee waggle dance, and analysis of whether to go for a field goal or 1st down in a recent Rams/Patriots Superbowl (not exactly my field of expertise.)
To make sure I'm not boring y'all with this book recommendation, I just searched through previous Sun blogs and noticed that that Tim Bray gave a recommendation for a related article in Wired written by Surowiecki earlier this summer. Worth a peek.
I'm heading off to the Sierra's for a long weekend at a crystal-clear (and butt cold!) alpine lake. The book is squirrelled in one of the bags and I hope to enjoy it - and think about how some of the ideas could apply to Solaris and community decision-making...
(2004-08-18 01:19:09.0) Permalink Comments [1]
